ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Cannabis CAURD licenses are on hold once again as the Office of Cannabis Management faces another lawsuit.

A new lawsuit brought forward by four New York veterans says the OCM’s application process left service veterans out of the mix. Now a judge says OCM cannot process or approve any pending CAURD applications until a decision is made at the hearing at the end of this coming week.

“We submitted our application, this is our second time doing it, and I’m in hopes to find out this week if we get approval,” Jeremy Jiminez, the owner of Honest Pharm Co., says.

Jiminez, along with several other cannabis businesses, are sitting and waiting for OCM to proceed with issuing new licenses.

“We’re extremely disheartened and frustrated with the fact that we’re unable to proceed forward and try to bring legal cannabis to market,” Britni Tantalo, co-founder of Flower City Dispensary, says.

Although she thinks OCM is working swiftly to move forward from this, Tantalo says businesses may be close to shutting down. “It’s disheartening that we can’t move forward, and we’re incurring financial loss,” she says.

Tantalo adds, from what they’ve heard, dispensaries may get another chance in October. “It’s purely speculation that general licensing, if regulations are adopted, general licensing could be open as soon as October,” says Tantalo.

Jiminez says he can’t go much longer without getting the proper licensing; adding a relief program called the Cannabis Growers Showcase was put in place to assist — but there are still issues with that as well.

“We’ve been dealing with a lot of hurdles in this — between the CGS and the dispensaries not opening,” Jiminez says. “I think we need a little bit more help from OCM.”

Regardless, both business owners say this whole process has brought them major financial loss.

“I know we’re struggling pretty bad to keep the doors open because of the lawsuits and what’s been going on,” Jiminez says.

“There are people that have invested a million dollars, hoping to be able to supply legal cannabis to NYS,” Tantalo says. “Then we have cultivators who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to grow it.”

She adds, awaiting the decision from the courts at the end of the week, another application deadline may be coming up in September.